Heart failure is the fastest growing cardiovascular disorder. Incidence is rising at a rate of approximately 2% to 5% in people over 65 years of age, and 10% in people over 75 years of age.
Heart failure is a leading cause of hospital admissions and re-admissions in Americans older than 65 years of age.
Hypertension is a common condition prior to heart failure. In a recent study; 91% of people who developed heart failure had previous hypertension, of which 42% had systolic dysfunction and 58% had diastolic dysfunction.
Aortic stiffening, due to elastin degradation and other forms of stiffening, such as that caused by atherosclerosis, which is stiffening due to the presence and build up of plaques, are a cause of hypertension. The aorta stiffens and dilates with age increasing: the load on the heart; pressure in left ventricle; aortic pressure at the time of peak aortic flow, and pulse wave velocity in the aorta and early wave reflection thus increasing pressure in late systole.
Data shows that systolic blood pressure continues to rise with age and diastolic pressure remains constant after approximately 50 years of age, giving an increase in pulse pressure after 50 years of age.
As the aorta stiffens, the arterial system suffers from a lack of compliance, leading to hypertension (FIGS. 8 and 9). Therefore aortic stiffening appears to be a factor leading to heart failure.
Aortic compliance is fundamental to effective cardiovascular dynamics. Lack of aortic compliance leads to increased heart loading during systole and poor coronary artery perfusion during diastole due to a lack of vessel recoil. Decreases in aortic compliance occur with age as a result of stiffening in the aortic wall. Approximately 80% of arterial compliance is in the ascending aorta and aortic arch sections. This expansion during systole and contraction/recoil during diastole of the ascending aorta and arch, is referred to as the secondary heart pump; an action that decays with age and disease.
Stiffness of the aortic wall can be defined using various measures, and is commonly expressed as the pressure-strain elastic modulus, EP:EP=Ddia×(Dsys−Ddia)/(Psys−Pdia)
Where Dsys and Ddia and the diameter of the vessel in systole and diastole respectively, and Psys and Pdia are the pressure within the vessel at systole and diastole respectively.
Aortic stiffening is generally associated with vessel dilation. Previous solutions for addressing heart failure include:    (a) medications which have limited benefits and generally high costs associated with them:    (b) intra-aortic balloons which are only a temporary solution:    (c) ventricular assist devices, extraluminal and intraluminal compression devices and pumps, which require power sources thereby increasing complexity of implanting, increase expense and have higher risk to the patient, and    (d) heart transplants which are limited by availability, high cost and high risk.
The applicant does not concede that the prior art discussed in the specification forms part of the common general knowledge in the art at the priority date of this application.